The owners of Creative Nonsense stand Thursday at a display of Asian pottery and artifacts in the store at 105 S. Lincoln Ave. in downtown Loveland. They are, from left, Shawna Cowen, Adam Rose and Shraika Martin. (Craig Young / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

Gail Webb poses Wednesday with some of the Persian rugs that she sells at her shop, Blast from the Past, which is inside Eclectic House artisan market at 528 N. Cleveland Ave. in downtown Loveland. Webb, one of 20 vendors in the store, also sells jewelry, designer clothes, glassware and other collectibles. (Craig Young / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

Three new businesses in downtown Loveland want to connect shoppers with vintage, handmade and one-of-a-kind treasures.

One specializes in Persian rugs, another in local art and the third in unique collectibles and high-end clothing.

Blast from the Past

Gail Webb, owner of Blast from the Past Colorado, said she has been selling online since the dawn of craigslist and eBay more than 20 years ago. Last July, she opened her first retail location, inside Eclectic House artisan market at 528 N. Cleveland Ave. in downtown Loveland.

There, Webb displays and sells some of the vintage Persian rugs that have become her specialty, in addition to pre-owned gold and sterling silver jewelry, designer clothes, glassware, fine china, art and home decor.

"It's high-end stuff at eBay prices," she said of the merchandise in the shop.

In recent years, Webb has picked up on a style trend — the return of the Oriental rug.

"The classic Persian designs, those can either be with an Oriental styling — a medallion in the middle and floral patterns around it — or geometric," she said.

"It's the tribal and the geometric that people are most seeking," she said.

Webb sells vintage rugs from the 1930s and '40s into the '60s, she said. Most are Persian from Iran, but she also has a few Turkish and Afghan pieces.

Even after being underfoot for decades, the rugs retain their beauty, she said.

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"It's wool yarn, and it's woven onto a cotton weft. It's super-strong and was super high-quality back then," she said of the rugs that were hand-woven back in the day. "They're made with vegetable dyes, so there are some natural changes over time. But people like it."

In fact, people decorating their homes like the way the muted look of old rugs blend with their distressed or antique furniture, she said.

Webb gathers her rugs from online auctions across the country, she said, and stores them at her Loveland home, where she has about 50 right now.

Gail Webb's Blast from the Past shop in downtown Loveland also sells a variety of jewelry, including these jade beads and bracelets of jade, cinnabar, turquoise and coral. (Craig Young / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

Sometimes, people see online that she's based in Loveland, so they drive up from Boulder or Denver, she said.

"I meet them in the parking lot of Oskar Blues, and we do rug deals," she said with a laugh.

Her rug prices run from the hundreds to the thousands of dollars: "Today I sold a runner for $450," she said. Room-sized rugs go for $700 to $800, and a "super-hard-to-find, 10-by-13 geometric in excellent condition is about $1,500."

Eclectic Market is open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. To reach Webb and Blast from the Past, call 970-646-6072.

Creative Nonsense

A new collectibles shop at First Street and Lincoln Avenue has been a collaboration of its three owners, who have brought their own specialties to the business.

Shraika Martin opened Creative Nonsense, at 105 S. Lincoln Ave., in mid-November. She said she planned to sell upcycled furniture in the little shop.

Then Adam Rose came along, took an interest in what Martin was doing, and he and Shawna Cowen joined the business. They added a variety of collectible items and designer clothing to the product mix.

Cowen and Rose said they select the best merchandise from the contents of storage units that they buy, and from estate sales, online auctions, yard sales and even from their own personal collections.

Adam Rose on Thursday unrolls a Chinese scroll that he said was painted in the late Qing Dynasty, possibly late 1800s, of the "The Three Stars." The scroll is one of the unique items available at Creative Nonsense, a new Loveland store. (Craig Young / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

"I went into this because I've been collecting my whole life," Rose said. He said he continues to sell items on eBay as well as in the shop.

"I just sold a 1963 magnetic hockey game that my grandparents purchased brand-new and was in the closet," Rose said. That eBay sale brought $125, he said.

Rose said his background was in kitchen and bath remodeling, but he was hit and badly injured by a drunken driver about five years ago so can't do as much physically demanding work.

A recent visit to the shop showed collections of Asian pottery and dishes, art glass, designer clothing, old U.S. Army items, lamps, old tools, paintings, vintage bottles, jewelry and a large wrought-iron birdcage.

Stephanie Borgman poses for a photo holding her baby, Fox O'Rourke, on Thursday outside her new shop, Little Piece of My Heart, a local art, craft and vintage collectible shop in downtown Loveland. The business will open Jan. 19. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

The price on everything in the shop is negotiable, Rose and Martin said.

When asked about the most interesting thing in the shop, Rose produced one of five Chinese portrait scrolls that he said date from the late Qing Dynasty, possibly the 1890s, he said.

Creative Nonsense is open from noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

For more information, call 530-307-1967.

Little Piece of My Heart

Loveland photographer and artist Stephanie Borgman said the time is right for her to expand the online sales of her artwork and jewelry to a brick-and-mortar store, and to provide a place for other artists to sell their work.

Borgman will open Little Piece of My Heart on Jan. 19 at 345 E. Fourth St., at the corner of Fourth Street and Jefferson Avenue.

The tag line on the shop's Facebook page says "Local, Handmade, Upcycled, One-of-a-Kind and Vintage Treasures." That means Borgman will sell hand-crafted items such as art soaps, jewelry, wooden creations, ceramics, greeting cards, paintings and photographs, as well as vintage knickknacks and collectibles and will take merchandise on consignment.

"We also have an art gallery space, and we're going to participate in Night on the Town," she said. "There's also studio space in back, where we'll be hosting workshops and classes.

"We want to be a vessel for our creative individuals in the community," she said.

"I've got artists from all over. Most of them are local, but a few hand-selected artists I've known personally are also selling in the shop," said Borgman, a seven-year Loveland resident who has a degree in fine-art photography.

"The shop is two blocks from my house, and I've always wanted to be part of the downtown Loveland community because there is an appreciation for the arts there, and I've wanted to be a part of helping that grow," she said.

Little Piece of My Heart's hours, tentatively, will be 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. For more information, call 970-820-0669.

Tim O'Rourke installs flooring in the shop of his fiancee, Stephanie Borgman, on Thursday as she plays with their baby, Fox O'Rourke. The downtown Loveland shop, Little Piece of My Heart, will open Jan. 19. (Jenny Sparks / Loveland Reporter-Herald)

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